(a) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to broadly to a dissipating medium used with a bowed string musical instrument, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a portable dissipating medium made of a material with a shear wave velocity between 300 to 400 m/sec, one such material being a stone-like natural mineral tile. The tile received on a floor surface with the top of the tile used to engage an end pin of a tail piece on a musical instrument, such as a cello. The dissipating medium removes an interfering vibration or energy of a “wolf note”, which manifest as an unevenness or a beating sound at a certain frequency of the instrument.
(b) Discussion of Prior Art
Heretofore, members of an acoustical violin family of bowed instruments, the most popular being a violin, a viola, a violoncello or cello, and a double bass, all have a note or frequency which either beats or is suddenly louder, called a “wolf note”, by musicians and luthiers. Experts in the field of bowed instrument construction believe the wolf note is caused by coupled oscillations within the body and strings of the instrument.
In the research of the cause and effect of the wolf note, there has been found no prior references or prior art patents that suggest or teach the removal of interfering energy of the wolf note using a portable dissipating medium for engaging the end pin of the cello's tail piece. Further, there are no prior art references that suggest or teach that the wolf note energy is a different type of wave motion, such as shear and compressive wave motion, and therefore can be dissipated through the end pin, while allowing certain wave motions, shear waves or compression waves, to return back into the body of the cello, which correspond to the length of the string. The current thinking is that the musical strings are excited by the bow in a form of Helmholtz motion. The strings then mechanically excite the bridge which excites the body of the instrument. All motions of the bridge and the body of the instrument are believed to be either compressional, also called acoustic or longitudinal waves, or bending waves
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,598,011 to Henkle, U.S. Pat. No. 3,884,109 to Johnson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,018,129 to Hollander, U.S. Pat. No. 4,334,455 to Beecher, U.S. Pat. No. 4,592,264 to Svobaba, U.S. Pat. No. 5,003,858 to Rowell, U.S. Pat. No. 5,889,222 to Burgess, U.S. Pat. No. 6,696,626 to Pagenkopf, U.S. Pat. No. 6,998,523 to Devuono, U.S. Pat. No. 7,342,160 to Alberti, U.S. Pat. No. 7,759,567, to Marvin, and U.S. Published Patent Applications 2003/0005808 to Mercer and 2005/0217455 to Zayia, various structural changes and additions to a stringed instrument body, tail pin and end pin are disclosed. None of these prior art references address the removal of interfering energy of the wolf note using a portable dissipating medium engaging the end pin of a cello's tail piece.